Shoe lace protector

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides a unique and simple device to protect shoelaces. According to the present invention, a shoelace protector provides a protective cover over shoelaces where the shoelace protector includes: an upper portion wherein upper portion includes a means for attaching said upper portion to a shoelace configuration; and a lower portion wherein the lower portion includes a means for attaching said lower portion to the shoelace configuration and the lower portion abuts the upper portion. The shoelace protector effectively and substantially covers the shoelace configuration by using the upper portion and lower portion. The means for attaching includes at least one opening in the upper portion and at least one opening in the lower portion.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an apparatus used to provide protectionfor shoelaces in order to prevent and control excessive wear.

2. Description of Related Art

A wide variety of footwear is available on the market for the consumer.A substantial amount of the footwear on the market incorporatesshoelaces in order to secure the shoe in place on a wearer's foot.Shoelaces are used in a variety of shoes, however numerous athletic orgym shoes include shoelaces. The athletic or gym shoe has grown inpopularity over the most recent years and has become a shoe of choicefor many consumers in their daily lives due to the comfort andconvenience.

Shoelaces in their present form are usually open and exposed to theenvironment that the shoe may encounter during use. Shoelaces normallyloop through eyelets that are located on the upper portion of the shoeusually along two rows. The shoelaces are inserted at the distal end ofthe shoe, lace through the eyelets and exit at the proximal end of theupper portion of the shoe. The laces are laced over a tongue portion ofthe shoe where the tongue provides a barrier between the laces and thewearer's foot. The wearer may either firmly tie the laces in place or insome occasions loosely tie the laces in order to ease the insertion andremoval of the user's foot. In either circumstance, shoelaces remainexposed and subject to the wear and tear that they may encounter.

The popularity of the laced shoe as a normal every day shoe in turncreates a number of shoes with similar styles and characteristics.Therefore it may be difficult to distinguish one shoe from the other andtherefore difficult for the individual to create a unique look andappearance to their shoe.

Attachments to cover a shoelace are well known in the prior art and haveaddressed this issue in various manners. Many of the shoelaces coversdisclosed in the prior art use complicated mechanisms to attach andsecure the shoelace cover therefore makes the daily use of such afeature complicated and cumbersome for the consumer. It would thereforebe advantageous to provide a shoelace cover and protector that is simpleand easy for the consumer to use, but yet provide a suitable means toprotect the objective shoelaces. It would be a further advantage toprovide a shoe protector and cover that could provide a means toflexibly distinguish and artistically decorate the wearer's shoe.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a shoelace protector for providing aprotective cover over shoelaces comprising: an upper portion whereinupper portion includes a means for attaching said upper portion to ashoelace configuration; and a lower portion wherein the lower portionincludes a means for attaching said lower portion to the shoelaceconfiguration and the lower portion abuts the upper portion. Theshoelace protector effectively and substantially covers the shoelaceconfiguration by using the upper portion and lower portion. The meansfor attaching includes at least one opening in the upper portion and atleast one opening in the lower portion.

In one exemplary embodiment, the means for attaching includes fouropenings in the upper portion and four openings in the lower portion.The four openings may be positioned near the perimeter edge for both theupper and lower portions. In one exemplary embodiment, the shoelace maybe inserted into these openings in order to attach the protector overthe shoelaces, alternatively a separate tie string may be provided tosecure the protector in place. In addition to the providing a protectivecover, the upper and lower portions may be adorned with decorativedesigns in order to distinguish one shoe from another.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary embodiment of a shoelace protector accordingto the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows components of the shoelace protector according to thepresent invention.

FIG. 3 shows alternative components of the shoelace protector accordingto the present invention.

FIG. 4 depicts the shoelace protector according to the present inventionwith an alternative connection means.

FIG. 5 shows another exemplary embodiment of the shoelace protectoraccording to the present invention.

FIGS. 6A-6G show exemplary designs that may be depicted on the shoelaceprotector according to the present invention.

DETAIL DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary shoelace protector 5 according to theinvention. The shoelace protector 5 includes two components a top cover10 and a bottom cover 20. Although shown as two components, in anotherexemplary embodiment these components may be joined as one compositeunit for insertion over shoelaces. The shoelace protector 5 may beplaced over the object shoelaces by insertion of a shoelace 32 throughopenings in the shoelace protector 5. The shoelace 32 is shown in FIG. 1and provides a means to secure the protector 5 over the shoelace inorder to protect and prevent exposure to a substantial portion of theshoelace. The object shoelace is therefore protected and consequentlythe useful life to the shoelace is extended.

The shoelace protector 5 as shown in FIG. 1 extents over the entireshoelace used to lace a shoe 30. The shoe 30 is not shown in itsentirety and merely a toe portion 30 and tongue 34 are shown forillustrative purposes. The bottom cover 20 of the protector 5 completelycovers the lower portion of the shoelace. The top cover 10 covers theremaining portion of the shoelace and therefore the entire shoelacereceives protective covering. Alternate embodiments may include use ofthe protector 5 wherein the protector 5 may not cover the entireshoelace and some portions of the shoelace are exposed. The exposure ofthe object shoelace however would remain limited and a substantialportion of the shoelace would remain covered.

FIG. 2 depicts the components of the shoelace protector 5. As shown inFIG. 2, the shoelace protector 5 comprises the upper portion 10 andlower portion 20. The noted significance of the portions in FIG. 2relates to the dimension of the said portions. In FIG. 2 the upperportion 10 is shown as somewhat the larger than the lower portion 20.This particular embodiment will be advantageous in certain situationswhere the shoe protector 5 is used in conjunction with a shoe whereinthe upper portion expands wider than the lower portion of the objectiveshoelace. Although exact dimensions may vary and are not specificallyset forth in FIG. 2, the proportionality would be in relation toparameters set in a current shoe industry. Also shown in FIG. 2 areopenings 11 a, 11 b, 11 c, 11 d of upper portion 10 and 21 a, 21 b, 21c, 21 d of lower portion 20. The respective openings provide anattachment means for the insertion of the shoelace in order to securethe protector 5 in place. In this particular embodiment, four openingsare depicted in the upper and lower portions, however fewer or even moreopenings may be utilized in order to provide the attachment means.

FIG. 3 depicts another exemplary embodiment of the shoe protector 5. Asnoted in FIG. 3, an upper portion 15 and a lower portion 25 comprise thesubject matter of the shoe protector 5. As shown in FIG. 3, the upperportion 15 and lower portion 25 are separated however depicted withsubstantially the same size and dimensions. As shown in the previousembodiment, upper portion 15 includes openings 17 a, 17 b, 17 c, 17 dthat allow for the insertion of the object shoelace in order to providethe attachment means over the shoelace itself. Lower portion 25 furtherincludes openings 27 a, 27 b, 27 c, 27 d that provides the attachmentmeans for the lower portion 25 over the objective shoelaces. Thesubstantially equal dimensions of the upper portion 15 and lower portion25 would be advantageous wherein the shoelace was worn and tied with aneven dimension throughout.

FIG. 4 depicts the shoe protector 5 according to the present inventionwith the upper portion 10 and lower portion 20. An additional feature isshown in FIG. 4 specifically a means for connecting and attaching theshoe protector 5 over the objective shoelaces. Tie strings 40 a, 40 bare shown through openings 11 a, 11 b, 11 c, 11 d of upper portion 10and tie strings 42 a, 42 b are shown through the openings 21 a, 21 b, 21c, 21 d of lower portion 20. The tie strings 40, 42 provide the meansfor connecting and attaching the shoe protector 5 over the objectiveshoelaces without the intervention of the shoelaces themselves. Thisalternative means of attachment enables for the ease of attachment anddetachment of shoe protector 5.

FIG. 5 depicts yet another alternative embodiment of shoe protector 5with upper portion 13 and a lower portion 23. As noted in FIG. 5 theseupper portion 13 and lower portion 23 are joined in one composite body.The openings 11 a, 11 b, 11 c, 11 d remain available over upper portion13 and openings 21 a, 21 b, 21 c, 21 d remain available over the lowerportion 23. This alternative embodiment shows the shoe protector in acomposite form wherein the entire protector 5 is one complete piece. Thecomplete structure of shoe protector 5 enables coverage of the objectiveshoelace and may be used in the same manner as described in the priorembodiment. This embodiment may also use the addition tie stringfeatures shown in FIG. 4 as an alternate means to attach the shoeprotector over the objective shoelaces.

In addition to providing a protective means, the top surface of shoeprotector 5 may be adorned with decorative designs. The decorativedesigns of the shoe protector 5 may be embedded or embossed in apermanent manner. Alternatively, the decorative feature over theshoelace protector 5 may be interchangeable through the use of a meansof temporary attachment thereto. FIGS. 6A-6G show some exemplarydecorative designs that could be used on the shoelace protector 5. Thesedecorative designs could be of any nature and coincide with the user'staste. FIGS. 6A-6G represent only a portion of exemplary designs, manydesigns may be utilize.

The instant invention has been shown and described in what is consideredto be the most practical and preferred embodiments. It is recognized,however, that departures may be made there from within the scope of theinvention and that obvious modifications will occur to a person skilledin the art.

1. A shoelace protector for providing a protective cover over shoelacescomprising: an upper portion wherein upper portion includes a means forattaching said upper portion to a shoelace configuration; and a lowerportion wherein lower portion includes a means for attaching said lowerportion to the shoelace configuration and lower portion abuts the upperportion, and said upper portion and lower portion substantially coverthe shoe lace configuration.
 2. The shoelace protector according toclaim 1, wherein said means for attaching includes at least one openingin the upper portion and at least one opening in the lower portion. 3.The shoelace protector according to claim 1, wherein said means forattaching includes four openings in the upper portion and four openingsin the lower portion.
 4. The shoelace protector according to claim 3,wherein the four openings in the upper portion are equally positioned atopposing sides of the upper portion and the four openings in the lowerportion are equally positioned at opposing sides of the lower portion.5. The shoelace protector according to claim 3, wherein the fouropenings in the upper portion are positioned near the outer perimeter ofthe upper portion and the four openings in the lower portion arepositioned near the outer perimeter of the lower portion.
 6. Theshoelace protector according to claim 2, wherein means for attachingfurther includes at least one tie string laced through the at leastopening of the upper portion and at least one tie string laced throughthe at least opening of the lower portion.
 7. The shoelace protectoraccording to claim 3, wherein means for attaching further includes atleast one tie string laced through at least one of the four openings ofthe upper portion and at least one of the four openings of the lowerportion.
 8. The shoelace protector according to claim 1, wherein saidshoelace protector covers the entire shoelace.
 9. The shoelace protectoraccording to claim 1, wherein said shoelace protector covers asubstantial portion of the shoelace.
 10. The shoelace protectoraccording to claim 1, wherein the upper portion and lower portion aresubstantially the same dimensions and abut each other in order toprovide coverage of the shoelace.
 11. The shoelace protector accordingto claim 1, wherein the upper portion is dimensionally larger than thelower portion and abut each other in order to provide coverage of theshoelace.
 12. The shoelace protector according to claim 1, wherein theupper portion and lower portion are adjoined into one composite means tocover the shoelace.
 13. The shoelace protector according to claim 12,wherein upper portion and lower portion cover the entire shoelace. 14.The shoelace protector according to claim 13, wherein upper portion andlower portion cover a substantial portion of the shoelace.
 15. Theshoelace protector according to claim 1, wherein upper portion and lowerportion includes at least one decorative design.
 16. A shoelaceprotector for providing a protective cover over shoelace comprising: anupper portion wherein upper portion includes four openings in the upperportion, where the four openings are positioned on the outer corners ofthe upper portion; and a lower portion wherein lower portion includesfour openings in the lower portion, where the four openings arepositioned on the outer corners of the lower portion to the shoelaceconfiguration and lower portion abuts the upper portion, and said upperportion and lower portion substantially cover the shoe laceconfiguration.
 17. The shoelace protector according to claim 16, furtherincluding two tie strings for the upper portion and two tie strings forthe lower portion.
 18. The shoelace protector according to claim 16,wherein the upper portion and lower portion are adjoined into onecomposite piece to cover the shoelace.